Release 16.0 Preview: New Privileges for Workspace Owners Coming Soon

Posted on by Grants.gov

This June, Grants.gov applicants will be able to take advantage of a range of new features when managing their application workflow within Workspace.

With the Legacy PDF going away at the end of 2017, users have begun familiarizing themselves with Grants.gov Workspace, an online interface that streamlines many of the more challenging aspects of collaborating on a federal grant application.

Release 16.0 Preview icon

Enhancements coming to Workspace with Release 16.0 include the arrival of forms-level access and the ability to add participants from other (external) organizations.

Forms-Level Access

For the first time, Workspace Owners (as well as AORs with MPIN access, AORs with Expanded access, and EBiz POCs) will be able to customize access to budget forms in a workspace.

In the past, every participant in a workspace could view and edit the budget forms. With Release 16.0, participants’ access to forms can be controlled at the workspace level. Workspace Owners have the following options:

  • Users can be given access to all forms in a workspace
  • Users can be given access to non-budget forms in a workspace
  • Users can be given access to specific sub-forms in a workspace

For example, if only one participant should be allowed to view or edit budget forms in a workspace, all other participants can be given access only to non-budget forms.

Add Participants from Other Organizations

With Release 16.0, Workspace Owners will also be able to add participants from other organizations.

This change will be of particular interest to users who find themselves in one of the following scenarios:

  • Applicant organizations who employ an outside consultant to help with the application
  • Applicant organizations collaborating with sub-recipient to complete sub-forms within a workspace

Currently, collaborators from outside your organization must either create an organization account on Grants.gov or work on forms offline before returning them to the primary applicant.

Starting with Release 16.0, users from outside organizations can be added to a workspace without having to create a new Grants.gov account with your organization. The Workspace Owner can simply search for all registered Grants.gov users by username.

This eliminates the need for grant consultants to manage multiple of Grants.gov accounts. In June, a single account can be used to contribute to workspaces from separate applicant organizations.

User Roles & Participants from Outside Organizations

The ability to add users from outside organizations may raise the following question: Will someone with the AOR role in an outside organization (i.e., an organization with a different DUNS than the primary applicant) be able to submit the application?

No, these outside participants will only be able to view and edit individual forms. They will not be able to serve as the Workspace Owner, add participants, revoke access, or submit an application. If you are interested in more details, the online user guide and video tutorials published after Release 16.0 will provide this information.

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